Jackson closing alternative school

Dustin Carlile may have taken a little longer than most to finish high school, but in a couple weeks, the 20-year-old will have all the credits he needs to get a diploma.

Carlile will be one of the last students to use Jackson County’s regional alternative school to accomplish what he could not at Jackson County Comprehensive High School.

The nontraditional school off Gordon Street in Jefferson is set to close next month after the Jackson County Board of Education cut funding in March to help compensate for a projected $4 million budget deficit.

When the school opened in 1994, it was the first of its kind in the state to use a computer program that helps students catch up in their courses and get back on track. When the school was in its prime, nearly 300 students from five school systems attended classes there.

The school’s own success may have been its downfall.

Enrollment started to drop eight years ago as nearby school districts added credit-recovery programs of their own, Jackson County Superintendent Shannon Adams said.

Last year — when the school enrolled 101 students and graduated just 12 — the school system seemed ready to close the school, but administrators and teachers made one last push to show how valuable the program could be.

This year, administrators recruited 150 students and held them to higher standards. Now, 35 of 74 seniors are set to graduate, according to Principal JoAnne Zupsic.

“We thought we were OK,” Zupsic said. “Dr. Adams said he had never seen a program turn around in one year like we had.”

Zupsic worked with school principals to revise a graduation policy to allow students from the school to “walk” in graduation ceremonies — a change that encouraged more students to consider going back to school, she said.

“A lot of kids didn’t come before, because they couldn’t deal with the fact they couldn’t walk,” Zupsic said.

The school originally was designed to serve students from school systems in Banks, Jackson, Barrow, Oconee, Madison and Clarke counties, as well as in the cities of Commerce and Jefferson.

As enrollment dwindled, the majority of the responsibility for running the school shifted to the Jackson County School District.

“During the early years, the program was much more feasible from an economic standpoint since there were five school systems supporting it financially,” Adams said. “But with time, the other systems developed comparable programs of their own, and the fiscal responsibility for the whole operation fell to our school system alone. With all the other budgetary challenges we’re facing right now, we simply could not afford to maintain the evening school.”

While closing the school is expected to save the district $370,000, it will leave behind dozens of students who were on their way to acquiring a diploma.

Jennifer Resmondo is one of those students.

Resmondo dropped out of East Jackson High School when she was 17 and got pregnant, and enrolled in the evening school a year later so she could finish high school.

Now she’s lost the program that would have helped her earn a diploma.

“It’s like they give you this opportunity to do something, and then they take it away from you,” she said.

While Resmondo still attends classes, other students have given up and dropped out, knowing they couldn’t possibly finish before the school closes, Zupsic said.

“I guess those kids felt like there was hope, and then there wasn’t hope, and so they just sort of gave up again,” Zupsic said.

But all may not be lost.

On Friday, a committee of principals, counselors and administrators met to discuss how they might continue to serve students like Resmondo by moving some credit-recovery programs to the district’s two traditional high schools in the fall, according to April Howard, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.

“There are a few students we are considering,” Howard said. “If scheduling will permit, and if they’ve demonstrated the right effort and commitment, we will work with those students.”